Russian-Libyan relations

After the overthrow of the king in Libya and the coming to power of Muammar Gaddafi on September 1, 1969, the Soviet Union became the first country to recognize the new republican regime on September 4, 1969. The leadership of the Libyan Arab Republic immediately declared its desire to develop cooperation with the USSR in all areas. The following years became a period of intense political, trade, economic, cultural and other ties between the two states. The head of Libya paid official visits to the USSR in 1976, 1981 and 1985.

In May 2001, Tripoli was visited by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. On April 16-17, 2008, President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin paid a visit to Libya (the first visit of such a level in the history of bilateral relations), during which a number of intergovernmental documents were signed (in particular, the Declaration on the strengthening of friendship and the development of cooperation, Declaration of Intent on the development of diversified cooperation), as well as memoranda and contracts between economic structures. July 30 - August 1, 2008 Libyan Prime Minister B. Mahmoudi visited Moscow.

October 31 - November 2, 2008, the first visit of the Libyan Revolution Leader M. Gaddafi to Russia took place for the first time in more than two decades. At the summit talks held in Moscow, an Intergovernmental Agreement was signed on cooperation in the field of the peaceful uses of atomic energy, an agreement was reached on the creation of a joint bank and a number of other agreements stimulating the momentum of relations.

In 2007, in New York, within the framework of the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, a meeting of the heads of the foreign affairs agencies S.V. Lavrov and A. Shalkam was held. In December 2007, S.V. Lavrov was on a working visit to Tripoli, who conveyed the message of V.V. Putin to the Libyan leader. In July 2006, as part of a trip to North Africa, Tripoli visited I. Ivanov as Secretary of the Security Council.

Since January 30, 2012, Ivan Nikolayevich Molotkov has been Russia's ambassador to Libya.

On October 2, 2013, the staff of the Russian Embassy in Libya, led by the ambassador, was evacuated indefinitely after an armed attack on a diplomatic mission that occurred, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, following the murder of a Libyan officer by Russian citizen Yekaterina Ustyuzhaninova ^[1] .

In early February 2015, Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah Abdurrahman at-Thani arrived in Moscow on an official visit. The meeting discussed the supply of arms to Libya and the training of Libyan soldiers by Russian specialists ^[2] .

On April 14, 2015, Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah Abdurrahman at-Thani paid an official visit to Russia. In an interview, he said that there will be strong cooperation with Russia, especially in the economic sphere: in the field of railways, oil exploration. And the contracts that were concluded between the countries under the previous regime in 2008 will be updated ^[3] .

On April 15, 2015, at a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah Abdurrahman Al-Thani , the latter said he hoped for Russia's help in rebuilding Libyan state institutions, Libyan military power, as well as security in the country through efforts to including within the framework of international organizations ^[4] . On the same day, a meeting was held between the Prime Minister of Libya and the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev . The parties expressed concern about the political split within Libya, as well as the growing influence of terrorist groups in the country. Nikolai Patrushev noted, "that the unconditional priority of regional policy is to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Libya" ^[5] .

The volume of trade and economic cooperation with Libya in the 1970s and 80s. amounted to about $ 1 billion. Within its framework, the Tajur Atomic Research Center, two power transmission lines (190 and 467 km), and a gas pipeline 570 km long were built in SNLAD. About 130 oil production wells were drilled, soil, geobotanical and environmental studies were conducted on an area of ​​3.5 million hectares, development schemes for the gas industry, high voltage power grids and engineering were developed, a feasibility study was prepared for the second stage of the metallurgical complex in Misurata (1.67 million tons per year with the possibility of expansion up to 5 million tons).

In 2008, Russian-Libyan trade amounted to $ 151.2 million. The main items of Russian exports are grain, machinery and equipment, and vehicles.

Since 2008, Russia has played a prominent role in the development of Libyan transport links. On April 17, 2008, Russian Railways signed a contract for 2.2 billion euros on the construction of a 550 km Sirt - Benghazi railway line. The official inauguration ceremony of the project took place on August 30, 2008 with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister S. B. Ivanov.

At the end of February 2015, Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah Abdurrahman at-Thani said in an interview with Sputnik (inaccessible link) that Libya welcomes the return of Russian business to the country and expects that work on contracts that were signed before the start of the civil conflict will succeed renew ^[6] .

On May 31, 2016, a flight with the first batch of banknotes printed for circulation in Libya arrived in Libya at the Labrak air base on a special flight from Russia. The cargo was met by Ramzi Al-Agha, head of the liquidity committee of the Central Bank of Libya, operating under the government of At-Thani in Tobruk. The total amount of cash delivered is 200 million Libyan dinars. In total, it is expected that 4 billion dinars of Libya will be put into circulation. According to some reports, the first batch of banknotes was transported to the city of Al-Baida, where the administration of the Libyan Central Bank is located. From there, money will already be distributed to local bank branches. New notes will be distributed initially only in the east of Libya. This is due to the fact that the UN-supported national unity government condemned this step by the authorities in Tobruk. US officials also said that banknotes printed in Russia were a “fake” ^[7] .

• Libyan Embassy in Moscow

• Russian-Libyan relations on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry .